Orcs would have high art and philosophy and such if it served a point to them.
...but the moment Grak starts carving the orcish version of Michelangelo's David, he'd get his green ass kicked from here to Elfville for being a pansy little man of questionable sexuality.
Orcs have no need for high art and the like. they don't need to carve their blades with pretty pictures. The blades are there to kill things, not look good. Why waste time making it look good when you could use that time to kill more things and get more stuff for when this stuff wears out?
More than that, they don't *want* high culture. Remember the legendary battle against the elves. The elves have high culture and the like. The orcs formally hate that crap...one might say they have almost a divine will to put an end to anything related to song, dance, and prancin' around in the forest like a limp-wristed weaver of lilly tiaras. Including any one of their own who tries that.
Orcs don't have access to metalurgy themselves, in general. They take what they can get from other people, or they hack together something of sinew, rock, bone, and wood. They probably can forge some simpler metals -- copper would probably be within their ability, and perhaps iron at the high end -- but anything else is scavenged. They're great at putting to use the "useless" detritus of others, because they thrive on it. Beating you upside the head with your old rusty axe is a pleasure that orcs all too rarely indulge in.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, you've got the namby-pamby elves. Slave labor is fairly out because they value freedom so highly...so how do they get around?
Low metabolism would be the first thing. Elves don't have high sex drives, and don't have high activity levels in general. Somewhat cat-like, they lounge about for most of the day. Whoop-dee-doo. They don't need as much food as other races, and what they get they nab from the forest around them. Leaves, grasses, bark, berries, small mammals -- all go to feed the elvish hunger. The elves don't do anything that isn't easy. Even their hunters are lazy, using the bow which they are natrually talented in, and laying traps, instaed of actively hunting much of anything.
While lounging, thier minds are still active, though. In between a supper of squirrel and berries and the nighttime nap, elves are still thinking. And, mostly, they're thinking of how pretty they are. It often turns to ways to showcase that prettieness to others. Flowing script, carvings in wood, magical ways to accomplish mundane needs, dances, songs, and paintings...making these takes very little effort, and so elves are inclined to do it when well-fed. Being well-fed for an elf doesn't take a whole lot.
Plus, elves have a slight edge in that they only need half as much sleep as everyone else (mostly due to thier slow metabolism not needing as much recouperation time), so they can spend extra time pondering how to show that they're pretty and command the respect they so richly deserve.
That's how I see it, anyway.
And dwarves? Their leisure time is used *productively*, without *any* waste of time or energy. The war machine needs constant oiling, and doing labor is what a dwarf is happiest doing.
That +2 racial bonus to Fort saves against poison and disease ROCKS plus most of them get +6 to Con AND between +4 and +6 Dex.
